“The go-to guide for the best arts and entertainment events in Los Angeles.”

LA Art Party is an event listing website established in 2010. A go-to guide for what’s happening in the Arts and Entertainment World in the LA area. Each week our staff, led by Kathy Leonardo decides which art and entertainment events will be featured that week. Our post goes up every Thursday at noon and spotlights events taking place that weekend (Friday - Sunday). We also choose one headliner event as our Pick of the Week. See Contact Page to find out more about Kathy Leonardo, our writers, and staff.

If you enjoy finding out about LA Events on a weekly basis, you may want to sign up for LA Art Party's Weekly E-Blast.

Our subscribers receive a SNEAK Peek Email EVERY Wednesday and find out about upcoming events ONE DAY PRIOR TO POSTING - We also reveal our Pick of the Week (which often requires a RSVP) to our subscribers ONE DAY EARLY!

It doesn't cost anything to become a subscriber and you can choose between monthly and weekly E-Blasts...and switch or cancel at anytime.

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Don't miss anymore GREAT art Parties....or Contests. We raffled off tickets to the LA Art Show and photo la. For more info on our Contests...be sure to LIKE our FB page.

See image: haleARTS S P A C E, courtesy of LA ARt Party

There are some contests comeing up for some great food, wine and beer events too, in addition to art events. So sign up for our E-Blast or be sure to LIKE our FB page...where you can find all the contest info!

Remember we list events all over LA...and if you are an artist, be sure to let us know when you sign up. We work with many artists and help book them into galleries and sometimes we will go outside of our network to find a specific type of work.

If you are interested in art repping....Click Here to find out more. See you out there, at the art parties!!!

On view now....Upper West celebrates the art of Bobbie Rich with a solo exhibit titled "A Parade of Ladies." It was a successful opening on Sunday, February 8 at Upper West. Over twenty of the artist's paintings will be on display. Art lovers came out to support the local artist.

Photo of Bobbie Rich by Beth Adams

Like the rest of us, Rich is a fan of Upper West. "I was originally introduced to Upper West through other Santa Monica locals," said Rich. "That is how you truly know a restaurant is superb. I enjoy attending their art events, meeting up with friends at the bar, or settling in for a more intimate dinner." Rich went on to say how excited she was to take her turn and exhibit her work at Upper West.

Rich said her art was influenced by the work of other artists. "I enjoy the whimsical quality of Don Bachardy's portraits. I was able to sit for him several times, and it is pretty magical to be in his presence," said Rich.

The art of Andrea Raft has also had an impact on Rich's work. She first met Raft through Women Painters West. "Andrea is my friend. I love her work. She is a muse and teacher of mixed media." A professional artist living in Indio, Raft and her husband Martin Raft often invites Rich for the weekend. "When I am staying with her in the desert, I drop everything else and focus entirely on my art."

The artist keeps herself busy daily by teaching classes for both adults and children. Rich hosts wine and painting events. She added that her instruction offers her adult students a mini vacation from their work and family lives. She teaches private lessons, group classes all over Los Angeles.

Rich cited that art is important to both adults and kids, explaining that children are able to use a different part of their brain to create, explore and express themselves. "Extra curricular art for kids is particularly important now that so many schools do not have funding for regularly scheduled art classes," said Rich. Her "kids" (as she calls them) take a tremendous amount of pride in their art. Their work can be seen in a window display at 625 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

Stop by Upper West to see the art of Bobbie Rich and enjoy the paintings of this talented artist! The art will be up through the end of April.Where: Upper West Restaurant, 3321 W. Pico Blvd. (33rd Street), Santa Monica,Phone: (310) 586-1111Website: http://www.theupperwest.comhttp://www.BobbieRich.com

What better way to get rid of that Valentine's Day hangover than binging on more tasty, sugary treats?! "Sugar Rush," New Works by Dave Lefner will tempt your artistic palette with his detailed, linocut depictions of vintage-themed candies.

There's a-one, a-two, a-three... a-three new flavors of giant Tootsies Pops to choose from, complete with the stick! As well as many more to make any confectioner salivate. Lefner's love of the vintage graphics shines through, and he revels in the irony that he chooses his labor-intensive, very artisan process of reduction linocut to recreate images of commercially printed wrappers run off in the millions. Come by and indulge your sweet tooth!

Lefner always knew he was going to be an artist. He has a drawing tacked up on his refrigerator that he did when he was in first grade. It shows an artist at an easel, even sporting a French beret, with a caption reading "Someday I will be an artist. I will paint a lot of pictures."

"Itwas my first self-portrait," Lefner laughs. He may have known what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he still had a lot of growing up to do. Born and raised in Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley, Lefner had a traditional suburban childhood. He went to Crespi, a Catholic all-boys prep school, where the focus was on academics and football. Lefner was a wide receiver on the 1986 Divison 1 championship team, which in a state as large as California, is no small accomplishment.

Lefner admits most of his high school life was centered on football, and that high testosterone culture wasn't exactly a Petri dish of support for a budding art career. "No, it wasn't cultivated in high school," Lefner remembers. "But I always had the ability to draw. I would do caricatures of the coaches and things like that."

About TAG Gallery – Established in 1993 as a not-for-profit corporation, TAG Gallery is a member-owned community of approximately forty artists. Through the physical gallery in Santa Monica's landmark Bergamot Station as well as lectures from exhibiting and visiting artists, TAG Gallery has become a valuable resource for launching the careers of both emerging and mid-career artists based in the greater Los Angeles area.

"Unwonted Eye," Christo Brock

In his latest work, Brock continues to explore unwonted (unusual, unexpected) imagery from everyday life. His eye ranges from the languid rolling ocean in "Ripples #3" to the macroscopic "Tortured Orange Line" and the enhanced fantastical forest-scape of "Christmas Trees". In all his imagery, printed exclusively on metal, Brock shows the unique vision that has characterized his work.

It's this metal surface that provides a medium to complete Brock's abstraction of image. These photographs don't merely sit on the metal as a photograph - they seem to live in the metal. His images shimmer and glisten, and the metal often adds a welcomed element of abstraction to his work. At times, Brock plays with the metal, as if daring to evoke the molecules to speak. Dew Drops become glowing orbs, waves become undulating stripes of blue, trees become lines of color and depth.

"Choreographed Color," Elizabeth Szymczak

"Contemporary figure painting has become, for the most part, too stabile. People sit, stand, or lie around the house or garden, stolid and inert, their poses without animation, often they seem as if they were stuffed. By not moving, they often fail to move us: the loss of animation has meant a loss to painting, in the range of both expression and subject matter," wrote art historian Gerald Ackerman in his paper, "On Motion in Art".

Elizabeth Szymczak captures the dynamism of motion, whilst maintaining an exemplary level of realism. She paints out of a love for dance and the expressing of emotion through movement. Szymczak's paintings render what the figures are attempting to evoke.

See image: Elizabeth Szymczak, Dream, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in.

As her latest body of work, Choreographed Color is a more positive collection. Szymczak concentration is centered on the blend of surrealism and realism. As in life, she is striving to find the right balance between expression and approach.

"Just Pictures," Kamil Vojnar

Just Pictures is anything but... JUST PICTURES. Its a desperate cry, ... it's a hand sticking out from the water, trying to grab to whatever, to anything, that is still true and real, in today's fast-paced world. Vojnar himself pronounces his work to be above everything else, ... about collisions ... "Of yellowish nostalgia, melancholy, of our sepia tinted past. colliding with the cold, ultra LED HDTV plasma, retina display, uninspiring, robotic present."

See image: Kamil Vojnar, From History of Aviation, mixed media on wood, 16 x 16 in.

Vojnar utilizes many paradoxical elements in his work. His pieces have a gritty, yet delicate and elegant feel. They are ethereal, yet remarkably tangible. The drips of paint, the layering of the image across numerous pieces of paper and the familiar elements and details in each piece (shoes, a sofa, a mirror, etc.) make the work part of our world. At the same time, central to the images are figures that are detached and untouchable. Like a muse or angels, they elude the viewer and perhaps the artist as well.

The Gabba Gallery presents "Curate This," the first annual exhibition highlighting the work of contemporary Los Angeles Artist/Curators. The group show is curated by Jason Ostro and Phil Santos.

This almost 2000 sq. ft. gallery sets off your curiosity as you see the visions and interpreted inner workings of these curators in their own practice. A fresh feeling comes forward in this exhibition, by turning the tables and bringing them together in one place, the viewer is brought into an explosion of ideas, loosely held together by a strong vision for Los Angeles and its place in the world of art. The showing embraces several artists to create a thoughtful, inspired feel as you embark into the imaginations of artists such as Nathan Cartwright of The Hive Gallery, Stephen Zeigler of Indian Alley and Mat Gleason of Coagula Curatorial.

"We're not sure when it came to us, how cool it would be to turn the tables on LA's contemporary Artist/Curators, it just took off... We are very excited to have all of these remarkable talents under one roof for the first annual CURATE THIS. The art is stunning. -Jason Ostro, Curator

The artists featured in "Curate This" are contemporary Los Angeles based curator/artists hand-picked by curators Ostro and Santos as an homage to them and their vision for the Los Angeles art scene.

"I was thrilled Jason invited me to be in the show. Gabba Gallery is a cool environment and showing with all these folks I know is great," said Mat Gleason, art critic/curator/artist and owner of Coagula. "I never really show my work. As a critic and art dealer I try to keep everything as separate as possible."

Gleason said he only exhibits his art when asked...he went on to say, "I would never want to take the spot in an exhibit that another artist would be getting. I am really strict about that... as a critic, every time I trash a show it has been on the assertion that a more deserving artist must be out there and the sin in bad art on display is that good art somewhere remains unseen. So when I get invited, I order up the fabrication of the object."

Gleason will be showing a meditation on walking his dog. He added, "That is all I will say. It is a 3D object that must be seen in person. It is being made right now. I have not even seen it...I have only imagined it.

Artist/Curator/Filmmaker, Juri Koll's work will also be included in "Curate This." Koll will have two paintings in the show. "'Vitraazid Kood Blue 1,' is part of a series of paintings based on a shorthand, or code, which I've found myself using without actually thinking about it," explained Koll.

"I like the practice, idea and fun of risk taking. Watercolor mixed with oil pastel, and sometimes pencil, helps me work with that in each painting. You never know where it will end, or where it begins. You just have to go with it."

Airom Bleicher owner of bG Gallery will be featuring a grid of 4x4in works called Micro Gestalt in the show. "This is my first time working with Gabba and I'm enjoying it I like their attitude and outlook."

He went on to say it was difficult being both a gallery curator and an artist at the same time. In 2014, Bleicher moved his gallery to Bergamot Station which has put even more time restraints on the galleriest.

See image: 4x4in works called Micro Gestalt by Om Bleicher

"The trick is to find hours when maybe you'd be sleeping and make art instead dreaming on the canvas instead of dreaming in your head."

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, continues its 2014-2015 REVOLUTIONary season with The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's groundbreaking theatrical work in Michael Feingold's translation February 15 through May 9.

The Threepenny Opera debuted in Berlin in 1928. Threepenny is nothing short of a groundbreaking work of what is now termed Brechtian Theatre, in which the full use of theatricality is on display and the fourth wall is broken; the audience is aware they are watching a play, a reaction to a previous, more naturalistic approaches to stage works. When first produced, the musical challenged the audience's notions of how songs could be used to tell a story, and the characters' ostensible amorality was thought unworthy of expression in song. A Noise Within last produced The Threepenny Opera in 1997.

An adaptation of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, Threepenny is a forerunner of modern musical theatre that follows the exploits of Macheath, Victorian London's most notorious criminal, surrounded by a stage full of rogues, foisting a radical new brand of theatre with music (in America Show Boat would have just premiered, and Oklahoma! would still be 15 years away) on audiences. Threepenny was not just rebellious in form, but also in content highlighting the failure of capitalism and celebrating socialism.

The plot begins as Macheath (Mack), the nastiest criminal in London, marries Polly Peachum, the daughter of Peachum, the boss of London's beggars, who gets a cut of their take for training them. Mack for his part has eluded jail due to his longtime friendship with "Tiger" Brown, the chief of police, whose daughter also has designs on Mack. A visit to a brothel, Peachum unleashing his beggars to ruin Queen Victoria's coronation, Mack arrested, put in jail and up for execution, and a surprise ending all figure into the story.

The show runs from February 15 – May 9, 2015; See website for full schedule.

Ticket Prices: Single Tickets $40; Student Rush with ID an hour before performance $20.00Groups (10 or more): Adults from $25.00; Students from $18.00

Pay What You Can Performance: Pay What You Can tickets (first Thursday preview) go on sale at the box office window the day of the performance, starting at 2pm, and are sold on a cash-only basis based on availability; limit of two tickets per person.

The Beverly Hills artSHOW announces its Call to Artists. Thousands will gather at Beverly Gardens Park on May 16th and 17th, 2015 to see art from newcomers, trendsetters and crowd-pleasing favorites.

The Beverly Hills artSHOW is preparing to welcome approximately 50,000 visitors its Spring event.

The deadline for artists to apply to participate in the spring edition of The Beverly Hills artSHOW is coming up this February 14th, with a late (and final!) due date of February 21st.

See photo below: Artist Teale Hathaway, at her booth at the October 2014 Beverly Hills artsHOW.

The selection of the artists, always a competitive process, will be announced by the jury on March 11th, 2015.

"Many of the artists are from the Los Angeles area while some travel from Mexico, Canada and even Europe to participate," commented Karen McLean, Art Show Coordinator. "The beauty of the artSHOW is that we consider almost any art from anywhere. There's a diverse mix of artists and genres in a casual, open air environment. Artists interact with visitors and are able to tell people about the stories and ideas behind each creation."

A special feature of the spring show will be Still Life artwork, a small but always strong category at the event. Artists working in this genre are encouraged to apply, and will be featured before and during the event. As always, artists working in all genres and many media are welcome to submit their work!

For a complete list of award winners, see the attached document. The top award winners of the fall 2014 Beverly Hills artSHOW included:

The May 2015 Beverly Hills show will again feature local and national artists, family art activities, a wine garden, a beer garden, tempting food trucks and live entertainment across four blocks of Beverly Gardens Park along Santa Monica Blvd.

After surviving a 14-year civil war and a government riddled with corruption, Liberia is ready for change. On January 16, 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated President—the first freely elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf faces the daunting task of lifting her country from debt and devastation. She turns to a remarkable team of women, appointing them in positions such as police chief, finance minister, minister of justice, commerce minister and minister of gender. With exclusive access, directors Siatta Scott Johnson and Daniel Junge follow these “Iron Ladies” behind the scenes during their critical first year in office as they tackle indolent bureaucracy, black markets and the omnipresent threat of violent riots. Highlighting the challenges that African countries currently face, this film provides an uplifting example of women who have become the backbone of change.

Above: Film still from Iron Ladies of LiberiaFambul Tok (Dir. Sara Terry)Thursday, February 19 | RSVP

Victims and perpetrators of Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war come together for the first time in an unprecedented program of tradition-based truth-telling and forgiveness ceremonies.

Through reviving their ancient practice of fambul tok (family talk), Sierra Leoneans are building sustainable peace at the grass-roots level—succeeding where the international community’s post-conflict efforts failed. Filled with lessons for the West, this film explores the depths of a culture that believes that true justice lies in redemption and healing for individuals—and that forgiveness is the surest path to restoring dignity and building strong communities. The screening will be followed by a talk with Director Sara Terry.

Filmed over three years during the most historic and pivotal time in Nepal’s modern history, The Sari Soldiers is an extraordinary story of six women’s courageous efforts to shape Nepal’s future in the midst of an escalating civil war against Maoist insurgents, and the King’s crackdown on civil liberties.

Montine Blank, founder of Paint Your Guts Out!® explains..."These classes get your happy self flowing creatively. No experience needed. In these relaxing sessions we will do a little meditation, have a little vino (BYOB), and coax out your artsy side. Using meditation to guide you, we will create watercolor paintings with meaningful intentions to help keep you inspired even after class is over. These personally boosting artworks are joyful to create and hang in your home or office, cheering you on for weeks to come."

The workshop provides watercolor paints, watercolor pencils, sharpies, crayons, and whatever else it takes to get courageous with your creative expression. Each session is designed to help you find joy in creating freely from an inspired place.

Please note: This is not a "paint by numbers" class! You will get to experiment and explore with new art materials -- and learn to TRUST your creative intuition!

Pricing:*• 1 Class: $35• 2 Classes: $60 ($30 ea)

*All Supplies Included. Limited to 10 people per class.

Culver City (Available Online or In Person): Starting Feb 10th

The workshop is facilitated by Montine Blank. To register and for more information on additional classes, workshops, retreats and events visit www.paintyourgutsout.net

Paint Your Guts Out!® offers a variety of art-based workshops, private sessions, retreats, and classes, all of which are built around personal coaching and intuitive art.

Save the DATE...Friday March 27...Kat & the Blues Hounds are BACK for another performance at Sonny McLean's Irish Bar from 9:00 pm - 12:30 am.

Tonight's show will feature guest guitarist and singer Greg Cruz. I promise to get him to do his "Johnny Cash"...he's incredible. So this will be a fun gig...it's going to be a mash-up of blues, swing, and a little country...all with sax, trumpet, guitar and more. We will have several guests sitting in.

This month we have amazing lineup....trumpet player, Bruce Friedman will be joining us along with our regular crew...Greg Cruz on guitar, John Wiemken on bass, Rick Bryan on Drums, with Lucky Wright on sax...and of course me...Kathy leonardo - vocals.

If you've never been to this funky Irish Bar, you will love it...its located at 2615 Wilshire Blvd., in Santa Monica...FREE music all night and the Food is fantastic!

Here is a video of Greg Cruz and I performing Big Mouth Woman...courtesy of Blue Jay Productions.

Check out a performance of "Summertime" (also courtesy of Blue Jay Productions) at Sonny McLean's shot by Wayne Ford.

Greg Cruz also plays in other bands (such as his own - The Venice Street Legends) as well as as another band with me called The Country Legends. Feel free to LIKE our FB Page - The Country Legends as well.